Yreka High boys basketball versus Lassen: Miners end NAL drought

Monday

Jan 21, 2013 at 9:21 AMJan 21, 2013 at 9:43 AM

BIll Choy

The Yreka Miner boys varsity basketball team finally won a Northern Athletic League game, downing Lassen at home 57-48 Friday night. The last time the Miners won an NAL varsity boys basketball game was on Feb. 19, 2010 when they defeated Anderson at home 50-42. Yreka had gone 0-17 in the NAL before Friday's victory.A packed house at Miner Gym loudly cheered for their team as the crowd got louder and louder as it became clear in the fourth quarter the game Yreka would get the long awaited NAL win.When asked how important this victory was for the the Miners, sophomore Ty Currie replied, "It's a big one us." "It was a team effort.""It helps gets our confidence up," junior Kaden Culp added and said it was a great feeling to finally get a win in league and said the team is ready to continue to perform well in the NAL the rest of the way.Head coach Christian Birch, who was head coach the last time the Miners won an NAL game, commended his team for the way they banded together and earned the win. This included being able to hold on for the win despite having starter Tyler Johnson collect four fouls early in the fourth, as did starter Kaden Culp later in the contest and patches of the game where they would constantly miss shots. "We stayed composed," he said.Yreka trailed 11-9 after a quarter of play. With a little more than five minutes left in the quarter the Miners trailed 17-13. That's when Yreka got things going and went on a 12-0 run. With 4:30 left in the quarter Johnson made a basket to tie thing up at 17-17. Yreka led 25-17 near the end of the quarter before the Grizzlies were able to cut the lead to 27-22 at the half.In the third quarter, the Miners were able to hold onto the lead and had a 39-35 advantage at the end of the quarter. To start the fourth quarter, Currie drained a three-pointer as the crowd the went wild and could sense the Miners were headed to a win. While Lassen got as close as five Yreka was able to hold on for the nine-point victory.Curie finished with 14 points, seven assists and five rebounds. Travis Robison had 12 points and six rebounds. Culp had nine points and five assists and Tevin Cadola finished with nine points and five assist. Johnson has six points and 10 rebounds and Quaid Blanchard finished with three points and10 rebounds for the Miners. Yreka improved to 8-10 for the season and 1-1 in the NAL. The Grizzlies fell to 8-12 overall and 0-3 in the NAL. Birch said that the team has put in a lot of hard work to turn things and said it's a great feeling for him and the team to being to see their effort finally paying off.In the freshman game, Yreka won 59-49. Yreka lost the junior varsity game 71-49. Photos from all three games can be found on the Daily News Facebook page,On Tuesday, the Miners head to Shasta Lake City to face Central Valley. On Friday, Yreka is at Anderson.